Monthly Archives: July 2008

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Boudoir Marathon Sessions- August 30 & 31!

The desicion is final!

BOUDOIR MARATHON SESSIONS will be held on August 30 & 31!!!!!!!!!!! It’s my birthday weekend at that, the 30th to be percise, if ya wanna get me a little sumtin’ sumtin’. wink wink. nudge nudge. :o)

Please, look past my second rate graphic design job and read the flyer! I’ve had an overwhelming response, so don’t wait too long to make your decision!

To summarize…

1. What?… Boudoir Marathon Sessions on August 30th (starting at 4pm) & August 31st (starting at 7 am). Each session is 45 minutes and is $99 per slot.
2. Where?… The uber swank Hotel Rouge located @ 1315 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036. www.rougehotel.com
3. Why?… Do this for YOU, do this for HIM, either way… DO IT!
4. But I need some help!… Makeup Artist extraordinaire, Crystal Jo, will be on hand for $40 to gussy you up. All final images will go through a retouching process as well!
5. And I’m scared!…. Don’t be!!! Me and Crystal will be there to make you look fabulous. It will be a super FUN, relaxed, environment and your welcome to bring a friend or family member! You and your friends can schedule your sessions back to back for even more fun!
6. Is this private?… Absolutely. Your photos will not be shown in public under any circumstances, without your permissions!
7. And what happens after?… Your final images will be put in a private, password protected gallery for you to view and order. Custom designed 8×8 Art Books, with your images, are most popular. There will be a 15% pre-order sale, if you purchase an Art Book BEFORE (or with) your session.
8. How?… Call or email me, Shelby Leigh, to reserve your slot, there is just 8-10 of them available! Please let me know if you will be requiring makeup/hair in your email.

If you emailed me about this previously, you will be getting another response from me shortly with details! Thanks!!

Quick!- What days?

I’m just about ready to release Marathon Boudoir Session information except for one teensey weensey detail…. I can’t pick the dates!

I guess originally I was hoping for the 23 & 24 of August, a Saturday/Sunday, but alas its unavailable at the location. So my other options are AUGUST 22 & 23, Friday (starting at 4pm up to 8pm) and all of Saturday Morning, or SEPTEMBER 6 & 7, Saturday/Sunday, again starting at 4pm on that Saturday. My preference is the 22 & 23 of this month for a couple of reasons, but I don’t know if I can get ya’ll out on a Friday!

VOTE!


Laila is ONE!

And here’s a few from her first birthday celebration!


My mom brought her famous cream cheese frosting cakes. mmmm!
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And to recap, here is a photo off my old blog, when she was just a few days old!
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I’ll be cliche, and say this year went by so fast, and it’s amazing how much our lives have changed through it!!! Who knows where we’ll be in just another year! :o)

I’m Baaack!

First, it’s Laila’s first birthday (or it was until 15 minutes ago!). First person to comment gets a $25.00 gift certificate to Fat Daddy Bake Shop! Their cupcake looks SO delicious, plus i will knock off something on my 101 in 1001 list, which is to buy something from Etsy.

And, I’m back from Montana! It’s typically a yearly trip, where we go to visit my mom’s side of the family, and over the years less and less of us have been able to make it out. Last year, was the first year I missed, I was too pregnant to get on an airplane! This year my mom, myself, Riley, Laila, my oldest sister Crystal and her two girls, Savannah and Kayla got out for this trip. 7 Girls… yes it was chaos!

My grandparents have an amazing backyard. It’s incredibly peaceful and lush, its the most relaxing place I know. And the kids go crazy over the pool. I can remember coming and jumping into my the pool when I was younger. Now my kids are!

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All of us, minus my mom, she took the picture. It’s so chaotic!

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Directly across the street from their house is a park…with a mini water park! It’s awesome! And I’m not joking when I say its just steps out the front door!

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And the kids…second cousin’s?…came over to play hide and seek!

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And Savannah Banana got a splinter!

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They next day we did what Montanian’s do best. Go to bars and gamble! So we dropped the kids off at this drop-off daycare for a couple hours. Look at the face of excitment!

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On the first Keno trip, I won $125….and then second I won another $215! And Grandma won the $500 jackpot!

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One day we went to downtown Missoula to, of course, go tot more bars, and explore! Here’s my mom with her mom and Ron!

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Then I got to practice some more artistic, just for fun shots! I wish I could do this more often!

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And the maybe homeless man sleeping?

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We went out a couple minutes before sunset to try to get more scenic photos. But failed! We had the kids and it was getting dark so we couldn’t travel off the beaten path. It’s hard to get a picture of those mountaints with buildings, houses and telephone poles in the way.

My mom snapped a photo of me climbing on the roof of the car to try to get a better view!

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This was my best shot

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On the last day I did a quick photo shoot with my sister and her daughters!

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And in turn, she snapped some photos of ME, I need some new ones for the website! She did good. huh?

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So where’s Laila in all of this?! She didn’t adjust to the new routine or she had teeth coming in, or a mixture of both. But all the photos I have of her…she screaming her head off. But here’s a cute one of her and my cousins lab!

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And one of my goals while I was there was to knock something off my 101 in 1001 list, which was to take a portrait of each of my Montana relatives. Unfortunately, I missed a few. But here it is so far!

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I’m Outta Here!

Oh yes, vacation officially starts today even though I don’t leave until bright and early at 5:30am tomorrow! I will not be returning any phone calls or emails, just consider me fallen off the face of the earth for the next week.

Where am I going? Big Sky Country! Missoula, Montana, to visit family, breathe fresh mountain air, go moose huntin’ (not really) and play Keno with my mom and grandma (we might have a problem). I might try some iPhone blogging but on the 23rd I want to see you back here, expect lots of photos and a GOOD contest because then it will be just a day before Laila’s FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!!

But before I go let me leave you with some photos from my last session? This couple might look familiar.


As far as I’m concerned, I could just blog the dogs and be done with it. I’m in love with their retriever/poodle, he doesn’t look real!

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If I could have this light everyday, I’m happy.
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DC Photog Get-Together!!

Even when we aren’t working on the weekend, we are still shooting!! I got together with some a group of AWESOME photographers this weekend to share knowledge, so do some fun shooting and practice off-camera lighting. These people are so much better at blogging then me. lol. I’ll just post a group photo Armin put on his blog.  :o)

From left to right: Rebecca, Kimberly Brooke, Armin Defiesta, Julia MacInnis, Jaime Windon, Me!


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I’ll try to get some photos up before I leave for Montana on Thursday!

“M” Family Session- The Park

Just a few from a session last weekend with a really fun family! 


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I go from happy and bright to dark and moody in .5 seconds!
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6/28/2008 Wedding- Baltimore, MD

Another June wedding! Okay first before I begin this post, let me tell you what happened on this crazy weather Sunday wedding. I arrive at the Mansion for preperation photos before the ceremony, I open up my trunk and unzip my big suitcase size bag to throw all my nessecities for that time, I zip my big bag back up and put my keys in the front pouch, throw on my shootsac on and start walking away for a second then I realized- “Oh wait! I need to lock my doors! Everyones always getting on my back about not locking my doors!”. I open the driver side to lock the doors…again I start walking away, but then I realized - “Ok smarty pants, you just left your big bag in the car WITH your keys, what are you gonna do now?!”. A small rush of panic floods me, but me, being me, realizes this isn’t that terrible of a situation- AAA to the rescue! Needless to say my bag and keys were recovered just about an hour later, I probably could and did shoot with what I only had in my shootsac at the time anyway. And Jason and Ning were none the wiser…until now! That’s my dork moment of the year for ya!

Back to Ning and Jason- when I arrived, the storm clouds were rolling in, and no sooner did it start pooring rain! Just as the outdoor ceremony was starting the drizzle turned into bright sunshine! And it stayed that way for the rest of the day!

DETAILS

Ceremony/Reception: Grey Rock Mansion


Ning, glancing out the rainy window. She actually didn’t seem to stressed about it. I love her attitude!
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GORGEOUS!
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This was Ning and Jason’s request. How fun! This is everybody at the wedding!
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If you really know me, you know I am the most unprepared person when it comes to anything BUT MY WORK. I always make sure to leave early for every session, wedding and meeting, pack extra everything and double, triple check. But as a mother and woman in general, I STINK! I don’t use diaper bags, I usually just throw an extra diaper in my purse and hope for the best! Emergency cash. Whats that?! No, no, you won’t find me with an extra anything when it comes to my daily life. :o)

Boudoir, Anyone?

I got this idea in my head, after one of my brides inquired about an upcoming boudoir session, I thought- Hey it might be fun to hold a Marathon! If it’s not at the end of this month it would be held at the end of August- September. But in order for this to work I need good number of ladies to participate!

Don’t know what boudoir is? CLICK HERE. Rough details…. each girl would receive 30 min- 1 hour of private time for the session, with ME only, a female photographer. It would be at a “discounted marathon” price (~$100-$150), rather then full session price. Makeup/Hair would be available additionally. At a swanky upscale hotel, I’m thinking a neat boutique hotel in DC or some place in Annapolis. Again, details are rough, since this is just an idea. If you would be interested in this please send me an email at shelby@shelbyleigh.com and say “hey, this sounds aweeessoome, you evil genius!”, so I can get a rough head count and decide wether to move forward.

Send this to all your lady friends too! Regularly scheduled blogging will resume tonight (with a wedding post!).

FEMALES ONLY!! :o)

ETA…this lovely lady. Don’t worry, I don’t post boudoir photos without permission. ;o)


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Katherine + Dave - The Beach

First a note… I’ll be on vacation from July 16th to July 27th!!! No scheduling, phone calls and very limited emails during that time (but plenty of blogging!).

I haven’t blogged in a week! I photographed Katherine and Dave at the beach this past weekend and god was it hot and humid, I don’t think I sweat that much ever. TMI? They gave me a little hint for anyone who’s nervous about their photoshoot- hit the local hotel’s bar before hand! They were so funny, giggley and in love, but I just think that’s how they naturally are. :o)


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This isn’t obvious at all
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Just incase you didn’t see it
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